IMO Steve Jobs last act of genius was to demonstrate the futility and dangers of alternative treatments, as clearly chronicled by his authorized biographer (who had unrestricted access and no restrictions on his research and questions).

Lots of geniuses wacked out in the ends of their lives. I don't think that Jobs did though - he did his due diligence and that is the nature of the internet. How many times have we had people here looking, quite desperately, for an alternative to radiation, chemo and/or surgery. We certainly can empathize with people in that situation. And how many pancreatic cancer forums are there for people (like on
on this forum to say "don't go there)?

Quack medical treatments are a 38 billion dollar industry and obviously they have some very convincing testimonies to bilk that much money from people. Sadly, some of the biggest proponents of alternative medicine are people with MD or Doctor in their titles.

Like many of you I had people hounding me to take Noni juice, buy an Alpine Ozone generator, vitamins, you name it. Everyone wants a magic bullet with minimal suffering and side effects but as of this writing there are none that have passed of test of scientific scrutiny. If you have never visited Quackwatch - do so now and read carefully the special page to cancer patients.

Conventional medicine is still your only hope of survival

Just for the record, I spent extensive time in China touring various hospitals, from gleaming stainless and marble structures to dilapidated "common people" hospitals with ruts worn in the floors. Their socialist medical system has different tiers for the status of the people. Engineers and CEO's go to the stainless steel and marble places and you get the drift. Welcome to Obamacare. But I digress - the point here is that whatever the tier of the facility, they ALL practiced conventional western medicine, radiation oncology, modern scanning modalities were in evidence at all of them. Herbal medicine was offered only as an adjunctive treatment.

I have always been a big fan of Apple. Owned an Apple II (s/n 000828). purchased in 1977 for over $2K (more than the MacBook Pro I am writing this on. I have 1/2 dozen iPods, 2 iPads, a MacBook and 3 iPhones. I met the Woz at the US Festival in 1982 in San Bernadino (Herbie Hancock and Robert Moog as well). I have always been a big supporter of Apple (and they are in my "back yard" as well".

Steve Jobs has changed our lives in ways that only history will tell but I can imagine it will be quite favorable to him and deservedly so. A true leader alway has the responsibility to groom and cultivate his replacement so I can imagine that Apple will remain successful for many years to come.